Rocketwrestler171
06-21-2007, 04:09 PM
Hey everyone! It’s been a while since my last blog (sorry) but I’ve been keeping pretty busy. I’m still training with Israel Martinez and his club IzzyStyle, and have been to a couple tournaments. At the beginning of April I went out to Las Vegas to wrestle in the Western Junior Freestyle Regional and wrestled pretty well, finishing first at 171 lbs. I also just competed in our freestyle state tournament, winning at 189 lbs.
I think after the Westerns, a lot changed for me as far as recruiting. After that tournament, I started getting talked to by quite a few new schools, and some that I was pretty interested in. I started talking to the University of Iowa pretty often, and eventually took a visit out there. I visited Iowa City, and after talking to the coaches and wrestlers, and seeing the campus, it was certain to me where I wanted to spend my college career. I ended up committing, and will be going to wrestle at the University of Iowa after my senior year.
My training right now is pretty tough, because I am getting ready for the Disney Duals in Florida next week. I leave on Saturday for that, and it should be a really good experience, and I should wrestle some real tough kids.
Alright, I think the easiest way for me to answer some of the questions from my last blog will be to name the poster, and answer each question:
IHSAWrestleFan- The transition from Class A to AA wasn’t as big as many people might expect. Obviously the depth is the biggest difference, and I expected that coming in. I wrestled a lot last summer, and became a better wrestler, which allowed me to still have a lot of the same success as I did in Class A. If I would have been content with my wrestling after sophomore year, I don’t think I would have nearly the same amount of success. In class A as well as AA, studs are studs, and the top wrestlers in each class will always be tough matches to wrestle in Champaign. My conditioning was good this year, as it was my freshman and sophomore years, so that didn’t change too much. Our coaches do a great job of preparing us for our matches. I don’t feel like I “have” to win a Class AA state championship in order to prove myself, but let it be known that it is top priority for me next season. I have a bad taste in my mouth after this season, and will be very excited to get another chance at it in my senior year.
Lauden Swain- As I said before, I wrestled in the Western Jr. Regional and our state tournament, and will be wrestling at the Disney Duals next week. Other than that, I will be wrestling in Fargo, and am very excited for that. At our IzzyStyle practices, I practice a lot with Jared Hensley, Jake Vetter, Vince Ramos, Elliot Hudson, Jon Sesso, Ross Grande, Joby Bodi, and Dan Grimes. It is a nice range of size, and really helps me to focus on a range of weaknesses I have rather than wrestling the same kid over and over and only focusing on what he uses against me. Practices now rival our school practices, but aren’t quite as grueling. It’s hard during the year to judge, because they are so often, and I focus more on conditioning and just wrestling hard. During the off- season I tend to focus a lot on technique, but obviously I still wrestle hard and try to stay in peak shape. In the off- season I do a lot more lifting, and I feel like I’m starting to get stronger. I lift at a local health club by me called Physi Plex. They do a great job of conditioning, and targeting a lot of muscles that I use in wrestling in my lifts. As far as recruiting, I’m set on Iowa, and have no desire to look into any other schools. I was in contact a lot with Michigan State, Iowa State, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin as well. I just couldn’t pass up wrestling with the coaching staff and tradition at Iowa. The biggest things that I took into consideration when choosing a school was coaching staff, guys on the team, how bad they wanted me ( I didn’t want to go to a school that could care less whether I was there or somewhere else), campus, and schedule. The added bonuses with Iowa were the tradition and the average attendanceJ .
Highc95- Going into my visit at Iowa, I had already been offered by a couple schools, but as exciting as it was to hear, I didn’t have the excitement I thought I would get when I knew where I wanted to go. When I was talking to Coach Brands, and seeing the intensity in his eyes about the program, the school, and wrestling in general was something that I couldn’t see myself not being around. Their coaching staff was friendly, and they did everything right to make me feel comfortable. Another thing that was different with Iowa from other schools was that when I walked through the dorms and on the streets, seeing people that weren’t in any way involved with the wrestling program wearing “Iowa Wrestling” shirts showed me how much wrestling meant to the school. Wrestling is such a big part of my life, and I think that at Iowa, I will be apart of something so great, and won’t miss out on any aspect of the sport from support, to coaches and practice partners.
Once again, please let me know what you think, and anything else you guys want to know. I’ll try and keep then coming more often over the next month or so, to let you guys know how my training and competition goes through Fargo.
Thanks a lot,
Jordan Blanton
I think after the Westerns, a lot changed for me as far as recruiting. After that tournament, I started getting talked to by quite a few new schools, and some that I was pretty interested in. I started talking to the University of Iowa pretty often, and eventually took a visit out there. I visited Iowa City, and after talking to the coaches and wrestlers, and seeing the campus, it was certain to me where I wanted to spend my college career. I ended up committing, and will be going to wrestle at the University of Iowa after my senior year.
My training right now is pretty tough, because I am getting ready for the Disney Duals in Florida next week. I leave on Saturday for that, and it should be a really good experience, and I should wrestle some real tough kids.
Alright, I think the easiest way for me to answer some of the questions from my last blog will be to name the poster, and answer each question:
IHSAWrestleFan- The transition from Class A to AA wasn’t as big as many people might expect. Obviously the depth is the biggest difference, and I expected that coming in. I wrestled a lot last summer, and became a better wrestler, which allowed me to still have a lot of the same success as I did in Class A. If I would have been content with my wrestling after sophomore year, I don’t think I would have nearly the same amount of success. In class A as well as AA, studs are studs, and the top wrestlers in each class will always be tough matches to wrestle in Champaign. My conditioning was good this year, as it was my freshman and sophomore years, so that didn’t change too much. Our coaches do a great job of preparing us for our matches. I don’t feel like I “have” to win a Class AA state championship in order to prove myself, but let it be known that it is top priority for me next season. I have a bad taste in my mouth after this season, and will be very excited to get another chance at it in my senior year.
Lauden Swain- As I said before, I wrestled in the Western Jr. Regional and our state tournament, and will be wrestling at the Disney Duals next week. Other than that, I will be wrestling in Fargo, and am very excited for that. At our IzzyStyle practices, I practice a lot with Jared Hensley, Jake Vetter, Vince Ramos, Elliot Hudson, Jon Sesso, Ross Grande, Joby Bodi, and Dan Grimes. It is a nice range of size, and really helps me to focus on a range of weaknesses I have rather than wrestling the same kid over and over and only focusing on what he uses against me. Practices now rival our school practices, but aren’t quite as grueling. It’s hard during the year to judge, because they are so often, and I focus more on conditioning and just wrestling hard. During the off- season I tend to focus a lot on technique, but obviously I still wrestle hard and try to stay in peak shape. In the off- season I do a lot more lifting, and I feel like I’m starting to get stronger. I lift at a local health club by me called Physi Plex. They do a great job of conditioning, and targeting a lot of muscles that I use in wrestling in my lifts. As far as recruiting, I’m set on Iowa, and have no desire to look into any other schools. I was in contact a lot with Michigan State, Iowa State, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin as well. I just couldn’t pass up wrestling with the coaching staff and tradition at Iowa. The biggest things that I took into consideration when choosing a school was coaching staff, guys on the team, how bad they wanted me ( I didn’t want to go to a school that could care less whether I was there or somewhere else), campus, and schedule. The added bonuses with Iowa were the tradition and the average attendanceJ .
Highc95- Going into my visit at Iowa, I had already been offered by a couple schools, but as exciting as it was to hear, I didn’t have the excitement I thought I would get when I knew where I wanted to go. When I was talking to Coach Brands, and seeing the intensity in his eyes about the program, the school, and wrestling in general was something that I couldn’t see myself not being around. Their coaching staff was friendly, and they did everything right to make me feel comfortable. Another thing that was different with Iowa from other schools was that when I walked through the dorms and on the streets, seeing people that weren’t in any way involved with the wrestling program wearing “Iowa Wrestling” shirts showed me how much wrestling meant to the school. Wrestling is such a big part of my life, and I think that at Iowa, I will be apart of something so great, and won’t miss out on any aspect of the sport from support, to coaches and practice partners.
Once again, please let me know what you think, and anything else you guys want to know. I’ll try and keep then coming more often over the next month or so, to let you guys know how my training and competition goes through Fargo.
Thanks a lot,
Jordan Blanton